i know it s been a long and exhausting day, and you have a long night ahead of you yet. i will try do my best to excuse you from that meeting as well. thank you. congresswoman lee, i know that this is you have said and i can see when you talk about this how difficult it is for you to talk about this. particularly doing this as a witness today speaking in congress i just have to ask if how you feel, whether it gets any easier now you ve said it a couple of times in public, whether you feel regret, whether this is taking so much out of you personally to put so much of yourself out there in such a vulnerable way? rachel, i don t feel any regret. it s still in many ways scary for me because i m a very private person, and having an abortion or having a back alley
especially black women, who died of back elie abortions. i was one of those but survived, and i think it s my duty now, as hard as this is, to talk about it. because i know it s going to happen again, if we don t stop what s going to take place. barbara lee, talking about what it was like for her as a very young woman, as a teenager, to obtain a back alley abortion, in the years before roe v. wade. the hardest thing in the world to talk about right. as you might imagine. she is sharing that story, including testimony in congress today, as we barreled toward a post row world, congresswoman barbara lee of california, thank you for being with us, i know it s been a long and exhausting danya of a long night ahead of you yet. rachel i m glad to be with, you i was listening to jamie, and i m going back to our
1st. pete williams, great to have you back here. pleasure. thank you. the supreme court has been asked to take an appeal on the restrictive texas abortion law on a fast track bypassing the court of appeals. a federal judge in texas today is taking up the biden administration s challenge to the near ban on all abortions in the state. joining us now is congresswoman barbara lee of california who shared her deeply personal story on capitol hill yesterday about getting a back alley abortion before it was legal as a 16-year-old. congresswoman, thank you very much. thank you and your colleagues. it was such a deeply moving moment to hear from members of congress of different ages of course but you know you were one of the pioneers in that you remember just how terrifying it was to get an illegal abortion in those days before roe v. wade. andrea, nice being with you. let me just say a couple things. i hope that the message got out
i really am thankful to be with you this evening. i m issuing hall passes wholesale so i ll try to do my best to excuse you from that meeting as well. thank you. congresswoman lee, i know that this is you have said and i can see when you talk about this, how difficult it is for you to talk about this. now that you have done so particularly doing this as a witness today speaking in congress i just have to ask if how you feel, whether it gets any easier now you ve said it a couple of times in public, whether you feel regret, whether this is taking so much out of you personally to put so much of yourself out there in such a vulnerable way? rachel, i don t feel any regret. it s still in many ways scary for me because i m a very private person, and having an abortion or having a back alley abortion especially when i knew
ali vitali, thanks for bringing us that regulatory. with us is one of the congresswomen who ali mentioned who testified at that hearing, congresswoman barbara lee of california. thank you for sharing some time with us this afternoon. you shared your story for the public record, uncharted testimony for you. why was it important to testify about your personal experience? thank you very much. let me say, having an abortion is my personal business, it s nobody else s business, it s a private decision i made with my mother and my family. so i have been very reluctant to talk about that because of just that. what is taking place in the country compelled me to talk about those days i remember so well, having a back alley abortion, and i survived. but you know what, we re getting back there if we don t do something and do something quickly. as hard as it is to talk about these grueling decisions that i had to make at age 16, i had